In 1496, to punish the Jews
of Portugal who would not pay the head tax of the state,
King Manuel deported nearly 2,000 Jewish
children, from the ages of two to ten, to
the islands of São Tomé and
Príncipe straddling the Equator west
of Gabon. The King had wished to colonize
the islands, under Portugal’s
rule, but did not want to risk the lives
of Portuguese men doing so. Nevertheless
a year after, the children were disposed
on the islands only 600 were found alive.
Some of the children attempted to retain
some semblance of their Jewish heritage
and religion. Even into the early 1600s Jewish
practices could still be observed on the
islands, but by the 18th century most of
the Jewish presence had perished. A new
small community was established in the 19th
and 20th centuries with the arrival of a
few Jewish cocoa and sugar traders. Today
there are no known practicing Jews living
on the islands, but there remains a clear
distinction in fair skin citizens, many of
whom can trace their ancestry back to the
Portuguese Jews.

On July 12, 1995, an International Conference was
held on the islands’ twentieth Independence Day, to commemorate
the Jewish Portuguese children who were discarded on the islands in
the 15th century.